Yi are an ethnic group of Austroasiatic origin living largely in the mountains of southwest China and speaking a Tibeto-Burman language. The Yi people numbered more than 9.8 million in 2020.¹ When the people of China were classified into fifty-six minzu (ethnicities) in the late 1950s, the term Yi, a previously seldom used term, replaced the formerly more common Luoluo, considered extremely pejorative.² They
mainly live in the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and in small numbers in Guangxi.³
彝族是一群主要居住在中国西南地区的历史悠久的土著民族。彝语属汉藏语系藏缅语族彝语支。至2020年，中国境内的彝族人口超过980万，为中国第七大少数民族。他们主要分布在中国滇、川、黔、桂四省（区），少数分布在越南，老挝等东南亚国家。
1 Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China. 2020. “China Statistical Yearbook”, Beijing: China Statistics Press.
2 Harrel, Stevan. 1990. “Ethnicity, Local Interests, and the State: Yi Communities in Southwest China”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 32(3): 515-548.
3 Guoyu, Fang (1984). “Draft history of the Yi”. Kunming: Yunnan Minzu Press.
Mayou
Mayou village (马游村), Yao’an County (姚安县), Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture (楚雄州), Yunnan Province (云南省). Mayou has a population of 2,223, of whom 95% are Yi. Located among several high mountains, this village is home to two nationally recognized Yi intangible cultural heritage bearers in Meige (梅葛) and Hulusheng (葫芦笙) respectively. Meige is the general name for the Yi’s comprehensive music tradition, including folk songs, dance and oral literature, all of which may be sung to the Meige tune family. The Hulusheng is one of the oldest versions of the Asian free-reed mouth organ, and dates back c.2,500 years. The Yi language is one of very few ethnic languages preserved both in oral and written forms in China, this dating back to over 6,000 years.
马游村隶属于云南省楚雄彝族自治州的姚安县，全村共有2,223人，其中95%为彝族。马游村坐落于数座高山之间，村内有两位分别在梅葛和葫芦笙领域造诣颇深的国家级非物质文化遗产传承人。梅葛是彝族综合性音乐传统的通称，包括民歌、舞蹈和口头文学，所有关于彝族的史诗故事都可以通过‘梅葛’调吟唱出来。葫芦笙是亚洲自由簧口风琴最古老的版本之一，可追溯至约2,500年前。彝语是中国为数不多的在口头和书面两种形式上都得以保存的民族语言，其历史可追溯至6,000多年前。
Meige
Meige, a representative of Yi ethnic folk dance and oral literature, encompasses a wide array of content covering the historical culture and everyday life of the Yi people. It is thus revered as the cultural ‘genealogy’ and ‘encyclopedia’ of the Yi, as well as a lengthy narrative epic. Meige is widely popular in counties like Yao’an, Dayao, and Yongren in the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. The term ‘Meige’ originates from the Yi language, with ‘Mei’ meaning ‘mouth, sing, speak,’ and ‘Ge’ denoting ‘past, history,’ collectively referring to a song form that recounts historical stories. In Yi communities in areas like Dayao and Yao’an, this song form used for narrating history is known as ‘Meige tune,’ which has gradually evolved into a unique form of narrative singing and a distinctive musical genre among the local Yi people.
The transmission of Meige relies entirely on oral tradition, without any written records. In the late 1950s, the Meige tune was rediscovered and organized for singing the creation history of the Yi people, leading to the compilation of the ‘Meige’ book. This epic, comprising 5775 lines, is divided into four parts: ‘Creation,’ ‘Creation of Objects,’ ‘Marriage and Love Songs,’ and ‘Funerals.’ It vividly depicts the Yi people’s ancient worldview, their rich imagination about various things, and the evolution of their production and lifestyle. With the publication and re-publication of ‘Meige,’ its literary, historical, and ethnological values have increasingly come to light.
In July 2006, the Meige Cultural Protection Area of the Yi people in Mayou Village, Yao’an County, which is the birthplace of Meige, was included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage protection list by the People’s Government of Yunnan Province. In June 2008, the Yi Meige was listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection list by the State Council.
梅葛，作为彝族民间歌舞和口头文学的代表，其内容丰富多彩，涵盖了彝族人民的历史文化和生产生活的方方面面，因此被誉为彝族的文化“根谱”和“百科全书”，同时也是一部长篇的叙事史诗。梅葛主要在云南省楚雄彝族自治州的姚安、大姚、永仁等县广泛流传。梅葛一术语源于彝语，其中“梅”指的是“嘴、唱、说”，“葛”则意味着“过去、历史”，综合来看，“梅葛”即指唱述历史故事的一种歌曲形式。在大姚、姚安等地的彝族社区中，这种用于唱述历史的民歌曲调被称为“梅葛调”，并逐渐发展成为当地彝族特有的一种说唱曲艺形式，也成为了独特的民族音乐种类。
梅葛的传承完全依赖于口耳相传的方式，没有文字记载。20世纪50年代后期，梅葛调被重新发掘并整理，用于演唱彝族的创世史，由此产生了《梅葛》一书。这部长达5775行的史诗分为《创世》、《造物》、《婚事和恋歌》、《丧葬》四部分，详细描述了彝族人民在远古时期的世界观和对各种事物的丰富想象，以及他们的生产和生活方式的变迁。随着《梅葛》的出版和再版，其在文学、史学和民族学等多个领域的价值逐渐凸显。
2006年7月，梅葛的发源地–姚安县马游村彝族梅葛文化保护区被云南省人民政府列入第一批非物质文化遗产保护名录，2008年6月彝族梅葛被国务院列入第二批国家级非物质文化遗产保护名录。
ECura’s collaboration with Mayou village
In February 2023, Dr. Lijuan Qian, the PI of the ECura project, initiated a collaboration with two Meige musicians during her spring fieldwork trip to Yunnan. These two musicians, Rongxiu Luo and Xiaowei Guo, hold positions as the Head of the NGO Meige Studio and the Head of The Centre of Intangible Cultural Transmission, Preservation and Exhibition, Yao’an county, respectively. They have played significant roles in collaborating with ECura project. (Refer to the first group photo on the left: from the left to right, you can see Rongxiu Luo, Xiaowei Guo and Lijuan Qian). This collaboration led to the establishment of the UCC Meige Research Collaborative Work Base in Mayou village, Yao’an county, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province.
In response to the appeals from Meige Studio and Yi villagers for governmental aid in preserving invaluable intangible cultural heritage of music, Lijuan Qian utilised her social and academic networks. Her efforts successfully secured official collaborations across various governmental levels in Mayou village, Yao’an county, and facilitated academic collaborations with Yunnan Nationalist University. (Refer to the second group photo on the left: Xingfa Bai, Professor at the Yunnan Nationalist University and the President of the Yunnan Association of Yi Studies, came to the Work Base inauguration and jointly unveiled the plaque with Lijuan Qian).
The establishment of this Collaborative Work Base not only received strong support from Meige Studio, Yi musicians and the local villagers from Mayou Village, but also marked a momentous milestone as it signified the first formal collaboration between University College Cork and the academic communities in Yunnan.
2023年春季，ECura项目首席研究员钱丽娟博士在云南进行田野考察时与梅葛工作室这一非政府组织成功合作，共同推动了爱尔兰国立科克大学梅葛文化研究实践基地在云南省楚雄州姚安县马油村的建立。 钱丽娟博士依托她多年来在云南累积的丰富的田野经验和社会联系，主动与姚安县政府沟通，争取其对保护彝族非物质文化遗产音乐的支持。经过钱丽娟博士与云南音乐学者们的共同努力，姚安县政府分管文旅业务的部分领导和专家学者应邀出席了研究基地的揭牌仪式，并与ECura项目团队签署了关于彝族非物质文化遗产保护的深度合作协议。此研究基地的建立不仅获得了梅葛工作室、马游村彝族音乐家们以及村民们的大力支持，也标志着爱尔兰国立科克大学与云南学术界初次建立了正式的合作关系。